


flowerboy

by gyufire



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, Language of Flowers, M/M, cottagecore seokmin, mingyu bakes, my brand is shoving my other ults into things, seokmin is babie, so much flower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24245587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gyufire/pseuds/gyufire
Summary: seokmin runs a little flower shop in the heart of the city.he met several people who bought flowers for all sorts of reasons, mostly love.love moved people and seokmin thought a lot about love.love and the boy who worked at the coffee shop across the street.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Xu Ming Hao | The8, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Jeon Wonwoo/Lee Chan | Dino, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Kim Mingyu/Lee Seokmin | DK, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 86





	flowerboy

lee seokmin had very busy parents, they were reputed professors at one of the most important universities of seoul, but that didn’t mean the boy grew up alone, or at boring lecture halls. his mother had trusted him from a young age to her older sister, a small and sweet lady who ran a successful flower shop downtown, standing pretty with a white front, surrounded by big office buildings and a buzzing nightlife, was lee youghee’s flower shop.

little seokmin grew up surrounded by rooting plants, dirt and colourful ribbons, he always stood next to his aunty, watching with big eyes as she explained the meaning of each arrangement and the stories behind every single plant. his entire life, he was given the opportunity to choose what he wanted, he wasn’t forced to stay at the flower shop, but it was what he loved to do. so when he finished high school and told his mother he wanted to study botanics and work with his aunty, she smiled at their garden - filled to the brim with flowers and vines cultivated by the boy - and told him she was proud of him.

and he went off to do just that, graduating with honours, moving into an apartment near the shop and working with his aunt until the woman retired, leaving the shop to him with the condition that he had to pay her a visit every week to bring her some flowers, tea and gossip about their neighboring shops. and seokmin ran the place with moderated ease, even installing some new approaches. he could spend his days tending for his pretty plants, leaving the front work to his employees, but he enjoyed the love in people’s eyes as they told him why they wanted the flowers, so he stayed in the counter, or sometimes, he arranged himself a big basket full of single flowers and roamed the streets, offering flowers to the people walking around. 

the shop was open during weekdays at normal 9 to 5 hours and on saturdays, when people had the time to gift each other, they worked until 8pm, and seokmin always took the care to schedule enough time for his part-timers to study and live their lives. he had one employee full time, jaehyun, who had studied with him in college and took care of finances for him, and a “small flock of college students as part timers”, jeno and sunwoo in the mornings, jaemin and youngjae in the afternoons and saturdays they all took turns coming in.

_ a tulip signifies a declaration of love. It also symbolizes fame and perfect love. _

they were used to see men in suits enter lee younghee’s shop in a hurry asking for a pretty bouquet because they forgot a special date. so it was very surprising to jeno when the suited man walked in calmly and smiled softly at the lined up arrangements. 

“hello, welcome to lee younghee’s flower shop, how can i help you?”

the man leaned in on the counter and smiled at him, peeking at his badge to figure out his name “hi there! do you understand about flower meanings and stuff uh…jeno-ssi?”

“only a little bit, hyung knows more than me, but what are you looking for?” the young boy smiled up at the man.

“you see, today is my five year anniversary with my spouse, we’ve been married for two, but we started dating five years ago… i always give roses to ji… but i wanted something different today, something with a cool story, i already got another gift, so there’s no rush, what do you reccomend?”

jeno listened intently to the man speaking and pondered for a bit “do they like any specific colours?”

“not really, he likes all colours, mixed!” the man exclaimed.

jeno made a small sound of ‘a-ha’ and got up “i’m going in the back to bring you some options mr….”

“seungcheol” the man smiled at the boy

“seungcheol-ssi! right! be right back” and with that the employee disappeared through the curtains behind him, the man worried as the boy left the store front unattended but soon he heard a low humming and noticed a red haired boy watering a row of ferns behind him.

after some shuffling and some distant conversation, jeno re-appeared, followed by an older man, both holding buckets with flowers. the older man was smiling brightly at jeno “you really are learning a lot jeno-yah, i think tulips would be great”

the newcomer smiled at seungcheol and reached his hand “hi, i’m seokmin, i’m the owner, nice to meet you, seungcheol-ssi”

“likewise, i thought the owner was younghee…”

“yeah! that’s my aunt, she passed it down to me!” the man, seokmin, beamed at him “jeno-yah told me your request and he said he believes tulips would be great!”

said boy smiled up at them and pointed at the buckets of flowers “tulips mean perfect love… a declaration. there’s this turkish tale about two lovers, the story is kinda tragic but it says that when the girl died the guy cried and his tears bloomed tulips, which is pretty punk if you ask me”

seungcheol smiled at the boy and nodded “it is really punk, i’ll take it, can you make a colourful bouquet?”

then, seokmin smiled at him and started working on building the bouquet while jeno ringed down the receipt on the computer. when they were finished, bouquet ready and paid, seokmin wished him a happy anniversary and a long and joyful life, already used to meeting this sort of lovers and seungcheol bowed to him.

“you have a really nice place here, i’ll come by some other time with jihoonie”

“please do!”

“and kid?”

jeno looked up from his spot behind the counter “yeah?”

“thanks for the story!”

“hell yeah, dude!”

and as they all laughed, the man left the shop, leaving seokmin to smile to himself, happy for this man’s marriage and for the hope that love could last forever.

seokmin looked outside on time to see jeonghan, the owner of the café in front of them, shouting directions to the tall barista, mingyu, as the former drew the daily menu on a board over the door. he ducked his head quickly before either man saw him and made his way to the back followed by his employees’ giggles.

  
  


_ narcissus mean egotism, conceit, self love, self admiration, formality, stay as sweet as you are. _

on friday afternoons, one of the boys’ professors started dropping by after his last class of the day. at first, soonyoung came by to tease youngjae and jaemin, but then he made an effort to come in every week to chat with his students and to buy a new pot of plants or some accessory for the ones he already owned, while also catching up with seokmin.

not different from the other times, on this particular warm june friday, soonyoung seemed happy to hear jaemin and youngjae talk over each other as seokmin cut baby branches from his string-of-pearls. the boys had modern dance practices I and II with the professor, who was far too young to actually look like someone with a PhD. soonyoung didn’t mind the teasing because of his age, commenting that “they might tease me but at least i have exclusive knowledge, like, for example, if i put jaemin next to jeno he will shut up for the entire class” which, to an unsuspecting soonyoung, also made seokmin’s saturday scaling way funnier.

“hyung, hyung, why don’t you put me and jeno together anymore, we were planning on pranking the old lady from the 3rd floor” youngjae, or eric, as soonyoung called him, whined to his boss.

“because… that’s mean, she’s half blind and you guys do look a bit like each other, and jaemin and jeno working together gives me a full day of peace and quiet” seokmin explained waving his scissors around as the mentioned boy’s face grew as pink as his hair.

soonyoung laughed into his cup of tea and reached for one of the hardback botanics books they kept on the counter to look for plants to buy himself. seokmin stole a look at the edition he chose, actual flowers this time. he moved to the other side of the counter “any special request for today?”

“actually, yeah… you see, this monday, the 15th, it’s my birthday, so i wanted my first present to be one for myself, what’s something that could convey that?” the blond explained calmly, flipping through the pages

“a narcissus” seokmin shrugged, before almost being run over by his employees.

“hyung, it’s your birthday? what the fuck?” youngjae “why didn’t you TELL us” and jaemin shrieked into the man’s face, before being hauled by the back of their aprons by their boss.

“ok you apes, act normal, soonyoung-hyung, this is great! the flower goes on the house, to celebrate your day!” seokmin exclaimed throwing his arms up and doing jazz hands.

“hyung what if you go across the street get some pastries to celebrate huh? from the tall barista at jeonghan’s?” jaemin suggested doing his freaky eyebrow wiggle, and it was seokmin’s turn to turn pink as the teenagers cackled.

“pastries would be nice” soonyoung pondered, unaware of the teasing duo “i could go across the street get something…” and without discussing further, the older got up from his stool and walked out and across the street, coming back a few minutes later with a porcelain plate full of cupcakes.

the three boys watched in silence as he entered the store and offered each a pastry “the dude that works there is really nice, i said i was coming from here so he gave me the plate and told me he’d stop by later to retrieve it, kinda dumb, really, what if i was lying”

upon hearing soonyoung’s words, the two teenagers started hyperventilating and slapping each other while seokmin simply rubbed his temples. jaemin recovered himself to explain, rather badly, the entire situation “you see, hyungie, our dear flower boy here has been ogling the barista for a while now, but he makes an effort of going to the cafe only when he’s not working, even if he only eats the one apple cinnamon tart that mingyu-ssi makes, and may i say, even if i only have eyes for pretty brunette eye-smiley boys, i can admit that the man is hot”

“i hate it here” seokmin threw his head back in embarrassment, only to feel bad about speaking badly of his store and whisper “i do not hate it here”

“i don’t know about this barista guy but jaemin just admitted to liking jeno outloud and it’s been what? only two years! progress!!” soonyoung chuckled, biting into his cupcake while the pink haired boy groaned.

_ lavender heathers convey admiration, solitude and beauty while pink roses mean happiness, appreciation, admiration, friendship, sympathy _

on this particular wednesday, seokmin had let the boys off because of a recital at their college dance department, the only downside of having all of them study the same major. but it was nice to have them help each other during exam week and twirl around the shop when they learned ballet. seokmin liked to see the passion in their eyes as they discussed new choreographies and he compared their swift movements to the growth of branches facing the light. he planned on going to the recital once they closed, but for now he and jaehyun were busy doing the boys’ work besides their own.

when the clock hit 3pm, a boy entered the shop quietly, watching the shelves behind his glasses and long dark fringe. he looked around seokmin’s age but dressed like he was still in college. he fiddled a bit with the ends of his sweater, making his way to the counter; as soon as he looked at seokmin, the florist smiled and greeted him “hello there, welcome to lee younghee’s shop! how can i help ya?”

“i’m really sorry if i seem rude, but would a bouquet of heathers look stupid?” the boy had a booming deep voice but seemed shy.

seokmin beamed at him “we can make it work! you’re trying to tell someone you admire them?”

the boy nodded “i searched it up, admiration, beauty and solitude… maybe pink roses also work?”

“they do… those two together would look nice, if i do say so myself”

“ok, i would like a bouquet of those, please” and as seokmin got to work, gathering the flowers and a pretty white ribbon, the dark haired man sat on the stool next to the counter, still fidgeting, as if he was itching to ask something. after a while he spoke up “i guess you would know this, how do you- how do you give flowers to someone?”

the florist smiled brightly, thinking about all the times he handed flowers to unknown people “it depends a lot on your intentions, really, but if you admire this person, then you just… just go for it really, it’s pretty intuitive”

“i’m afraid i’ll look pathetic” the man took a deep breath, as if calculating his options “channie invited me to his recital, i’ve been to all of his recitals before, but this one is his last, and he- he is so great, he has fans! but i want to give him the flowers not just because i admire his dancing - which i do - but because i admire him as a whole, he’s so young, he works so hard and he has so much light in him, i-”

the man cut himself off, looking lost. seokmin laid the bouquet on top of the counter and looked at the client with a raised eyebrow “i think you know how you should give the flower to this boy”

the man raised his eyes to meet seokmin’s, questions evident on his face.

“what is your name, dude?”

“wonwoo”

“well, wonwoo, you’re not the first person who tells me why they feel like giving flowers to somebody. and most of the times, i believe you should say just that, what you just told me, your reason”

“my reason to give him flowers?”

“your reason to love him”

.

later that evening, when seokmin and jaehyun’s hands hurt from clapping loudly for their dongsaengs, the last act performing was introduced with great clamor as “the future of dance, lee chan”, and a boy with clear confidence of a veteran dancer entered the stage. seokmin watched as the dancer locked eyes with someone in the audience and followed his gaze to find wonwoo, holding the bouquet and looking at the other with pure adoration.

everything would be alright.

_ carnations mean pride and beauty, a pink carnation symbolizes the love of a woman or a mother; _

as busy as his college experience had been, seokmin still managed to make a considerable number of friends, some he never saw after graduation, some he saw from time to time, some - jaehyun, for instance - he saw every day. he studied near home, so he never got to live in the dorms, but he still participated in some activities, such as the radio club, in which he MC-ed several programs, most of which flopped after very few episodes, except for booseok’s castella, a late evening show filled with ballads and boo seungkwan’s witty takes on gossip, followed by seokmin’s sweet remarks on campus life.

him and seungkwan met at the club and quickly became inseparable, presenting the show and hanging out together for the most part of the four years they were in college. right after their show was jaehyun’s show, which he presented with johnny, it was called night night and it was more laid back and chill, as both mcs spoke in softer voices “before asmr was cool” and played r&b until the late night. seungkwan liked to believe he had a great part in getting johnjae together, simply because he ended the castella with words along the lines of “until next time, now stay tuned for another soothing session of night night with our resident lover boys”. 

seungkwan was one of the people seokmin believed he’d met in college to take along through his entire life, and for that he was thankful. the younger was a sincere, brave and smart man with an honest-to-god heart of gold, bickering and impromptu girl group covers included. the boy had been with him through ups and downs, through the confusing times in which seokmin thought he liked jaehyun up until the rough days when the shop was handed to him.

and now seungkwan had an actual job as a radio mc, seokmin made sure to tune in to his program everyday at 6 when he got home from work, he even got shout outs from the younger every once in a while. seungkwan was living his dream, talking to idols every day and making his mama proud. seokmin liked to joke that the fame didn’t change him, as he still paid visits to the flower shop whenever he could.

much like this day, when seungkwan entered the shop with the intention of buying a gift to his mother and ended up staying for the entire afternoon, sipping his ginger tea and gossiping as jaehyun and seokmin handled documents for a new purchase.

“can you believe she spent four years in college and didn’t learn a single thing about deadlines?”

seokmin hummed, not really sure if he knew whoever seungkwan was talking about.

“anyways onto the good stuff, jaehyun hyung, do you know wendy?” seungkwan prompted the man eagerly.

jaehyun smiled, dimples and all, answering the younger “yeah she’s good friends with johnny, heard she’s recovering well”

“of course, that’s great… but did you hear about the huge flower bouquet she got from her girlfriend? what if they’re getting married” the younger wiggled his eyebrows, taking a sip from his tea.

“seulgi noona got the flowers here, kwannie” seokmin dead panned.

seungkwan made a show ignoring his hyung “oh, love’s beautiful… i wish i had someone to pamper”

“tell me about it” seokmin muttered, pouting.

“but seokmin, what about the-” before his demonic coworker could finish, seokmin had already elbowed jaehyun into silence, only serving to spark curiosity into his best friend.

the younger started giggling and leaned into the counter “seokmin-ah, you wouldn’t hide something like, let’s say, a crush from your best friend, would ya?”

the florist sighed in defeat and stole a glance to the front window, catching a quick glimpse of a tall and broad man walking around the coffee shop. he wouldn’t hide it from seungkwan, but he took a while hiding it from himself, after all, he rarely spoke to mingyu, only ever watching him from afar, hearing good things about his baked goods and smiling at him early in the morning when they both opened the shops in the cold, so he didn’t have any solid reasons to explain the fluttering in his chest whenever he saw kim mingyu.

seokmin turned to look at his best friend with big wet eyes “i have no idea of what's going on or what i should do” to which seungkwan pouted, gesturing for the older to come to him and jaehyun snorted, patting seokmin in the back “you big baby, it’s really not that bad”

seungkwan hugged seokmin, shushing him and swaying his body calmly “my mom always tells me that the heart knows better than the mind, so maybe your heart is trying to tell you the truth, i know you’re soft and it’s easy for your heart to beat faster, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true, or valid” the blonde held seokmin by the shoulders and stared into his eyes “i’m not sure of what’s going on either, but i think you should listen to your heart… and tell me about this person who i don’t know about for some wicked reason”

seokmin laughed at his best friend, with reddened cheeks “he’s-”

“coming in right now” jaehyun threw a towel into seokmin’s face just as the door opened, letting the sounds of the street filter in, along with the smell of cinnamon. the three men watched as the newcomer made his way to the counter holding a small basket with both hands and walking as if he had bombs stored in there. 

“hello, mingyu-ssi, how can we help you?” jaehyun greeted the baker, holding back his laughter as seokmin busied himself trying not to choke and seungkwan watched the newcomer with raised eyebrows. none of them seemed to realise that the tanned man had rosy cheeks himself.

“hi… uh… hyung asked me to- i made these!” mingyu stumbled with his words and handed the basket to jaehyun. 

_ cacti carry the meaning of endurance and survival, as they thrive under extreme circumstances; _

no one buys flowers in the beginning of autumn, it isn’t a reasonable thing to do, but the shop is still up and running, seokmin rubs his hands together watching the street, there’s few people outside on a cold morning such as this, with a grey sky and a chilling wind. the coffee shop up front, contrary to the flower shop, is filled with workers seeking the warmth of caffeine before heading to their duties, and from his spot near the store front, seokmin has a full view of mingyu rushing about the counter, smiling sweetly at clients and concentrating on the orders with furrowed brows.

as he smiles along with the barista, seokmin turns to his own business, only to find four devils eyeing him knowingly. his employees where all on exam week and as the flower shop had been quiet lately, they all huddled together to study, even if outside their shifts - in youngjae and jaemin’s case - on the big work table on the back of the counter. seokmin and jaehyun found it extremely cute, so they never complained, especially when clients came in and the four hushed rock-paper-scissors and the loser ran to the front to help. seokmin adored them, except when they ganged up on him to make fun of his puppy love, like now.

“gremlins, all of you” he grumbled as the four and even jaehyun, who had been texting away on the counter, erupted in laughter.

the morning went on as seokmin checked idly on his plants and made a few comments with jaehyun when the brunette looked away from his phone. he didn’t judge his coworker, if he had someone to text through work, he’d also stay fixed to his phone all day long. overall, the florist was bored out of his mind, so he looked around himself to find a distraction, zeroing on youngjae yawning into his book. the four boys had been studying since they came in at 8am, and they reported that the previous night, all of them had studied until late, so seokmin took pity on the boys, deciding to intervene. he took a look at the coffee shop, which had significantly less people now that the clock neared 10am, grabbed his coat and wallet and left.

he analysed his options as he waited to cross the street, the manager of the coffee shop, jeonghan, was a regular at the flower shop as he bought greens and succulents to decorate the shop periodically, the two of them were friendly and seokmin liked to drop by the coffee shop when he knew jeonghan was alone to chat, check on the plants and eat their delicious pastries. the problem, clearly, wasn’t having to talk to jeonghan, instead, he was worried as his abrupt decision made him enter the shop as mingyu, tall and beautiful as always, worked away behind the counter.

when the warmth of the shop enveloped him, seokmin found mingyu alone behind the counter - working both the cashier and making the drinks - along with a couple of clients, so he made his way around the shop, pretending to check if all the plants were all being watered right. the florist tried to steal a few looks at mingyu, but he guessed he ended up looking obvious, as mingyu smiled up at him at some point.

the tall barista was… a sight to behold, his honey brown hair nicely styled, his broad shoulders flexing lightly as he manned the coffee machine, even the cute plaid apron he wore complimented his tanned skintone. even if - according to jeonghan - the both of them had the same age, mingyu seemed way more well put than seokmin, always dressing fashionably and walking with raised shoulders and a serious expression. most importantly, mingyu was the hand behind the yummiest pastries seokmin had ever eaten, always coming up with new flavors and combinations for the various cakes, pies, cookies and pastries sold.

the florist shook himself away from his own thoughts when the last client in line moved away from the counter and made his way to the front of the cashier. he looked at the menu over the counter and pretended to think as mingyu greeted him warmly.

“good morning, seokmin-ssi, how can i help you?” seokmin turned his eyes to the boy and noticed his pink cheeks - probably caused by the warm steam of coffee - and suppressed the thought that they suited him.

“hi, good morning, mingyu-ssi, you see, as you might know, i have a bunch of teenagers, no wait, i don’t own the teenagers, they’re- my part-timers! they’re studying, so i wanted to treat them some coffee” seokmin stammers, gesticulating wildly.

“you might be the best boss ever” the taller huffs out, wiggling his well structured eyebrows. from somewhere in the kitchen they hear jeonghan’s “i heard that” and the both of them giggle.

the both of them fall into easy chatter as seokmin cites the boys’ prefered coffees and mingyu prepares them, along with a small plate of pastries and cookies. seokmin finds himself easily responding to mingyu’s commentary and answering the man’s bubbling questions - which are almost childish, in a cute way - about botanics and flowers. the florist observes mingyu’s big eyes shining as he recounts stories of the plants they take care of at the café, and he can’t help the fluttering in his chest as he realizes that the both of them could talk for hours.

just as mingyu finishes the last drink, jaemin’s demonic americano - which he knew by heart simply for the fact that it was the scariest drink anyone had ever ordered - jeonghan comes out of the kitchen carrying a perfectly cut pie to put on the display. the older smirks at them “aren’t you two cozy over there?”

seokmin actually sees the blush blossoming in the man’s face, he marvels at the cute sight and wonders if there’s some meaning behind it as mingyu lowers his head to hide his own face and before his employee can protest, jeonghan continues speaking “seokmin dear, those are lots of things, i don’t think it’s safe for you to try and take them all by yourself” he drags the words, clearly trying to be suave “mingyu-ya, will you be a darling and help seokminnie out? i can take care of everything here ‘til you’re back!”

and seokmin starts to protest, say he’s capable of carrying a tray of coffee and a bag of pastries by himself, but mingyu’s already taking off his apron and walking around the counter with a blinding smile.

he almost slaps his forehead when they walk through the door of the flower shop and 5 people scatter away from behind the counter, where they were clearly spying on their boss. mingyu doesn’t seem to have noticed as he gently lays out the bags he’s carrying on to the counter and greets a smirking jaehyun.

seokmin walks around the counter to hand the boys their drinks and they all exclaim in gratitude, to both him and mingyu. the barista smiles embarrassed and reassures them that it’s their boss’ effort, and seokmin locks eyes with him, both smiling for a few seconds of sheer joy. that is until jaehyun’s phone pings next to seokmin and he’s pulled out of his reverie.

he scrambles a bit to reach the green plants display and picks a small white porcelain pot with a smiling round cactus to give to mingyu “to cheer up your shop! and for the help!”

mingyu holds the plant and his big hands envelop the entire pot, making it seem even smaller, but the barista looks at it preciously and seokmin wishes he could take a picture of the moment. 

_ stock flower represents lasting beauty, bonds of affection, promptness, something like saying “you'll always be beautiful to me” _

as their awkwardness faded away, mingyu and seokmin managed to form some sort of bond, visiting each other during breaks, talking without stuttering and even ganging up to tease their audiences. seokmin had even gathered the courage to invite mingyu out, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous out of his mind.

he and mingyu had made plans to meet on saturday afternoon - jaehyun made an entire slide show to prove that seokmin deserved a day off - seokmin had told mingyu to meet him in front of the shop, he had the date planned, every bit of it, but by friday he was already feeling dizzy from sheer nervousness. 

he sat himself in the backroom and fidled with roses until his hands started to bleed from pricking himself, then he roamed around the shop tidying the rows of leafy plants as youngjae cleaned their shelves and when johnny showed up to pick jaehyun up, he forced the couple to chat with him for a few minutes to calm him down.

as the two made their way out, jaehyun suggested with a dimpled smile “you should take a lil’ walk, seokmin-ah, to calm yourself down, look at people, there’s a lot of couples out there who might give you some hope”

the florist felt his eyes rolling, just watching johnny hold jaehyun’s hand already made him anxious - by god he wanted that to himself - but he guessed he could do some street vending.

he picked roses from all colors, all thorn-free and pretty, arranged them in a big basket and closed the shop, biding goodbye to youngjae and jaemin and wrapping himself with a big coat to leave.

as he walked the streets he saw various bars already opened and filled with laughter, several people walking around in groups, in couples or alone, the scenery was pretty, all the warm lights from the bars and restaurants, the streets filled with people being happy. seokmin smiled to himself after having sold a yellow rose for a girl to give her friend - she had just been broken up with, the friend explained, but she still smiled warmly and hugged her rose tightly to her chest - as he realized he had been so distracted with other people’s stories that he didn’t think about his date for almost two hours.

the sun had already set a while ago, he knew it was late to still be working, but he had made a considerable amount of success, so he stayed longer. selling roses to couples, to friends, to mothers and children, even for people to gift themselves.

when he was almost out of roses in his basket, a pretty boy with rosy cheeks and a thick chinese accent approached him, asking for a red rose. he was clearly a bit tipsy, and he resembled a cat a little bit, but he paid the right amount and even asked for a card from the shop. 

seokmin watched the boy skip to a nearby bench, where another boy sat watching him, equally rosy. the flower was given and a kiss was exchanged - the buyer even pointed seokmin out, presumably answering the question of “where did you get the flower?” - and seokmin sighed contently, that would be a good closure to such a nigt.

he made his way back to the shop and from there back home in no time, being so tired that he didn’t have time to stress over his date again.

-

when the morning came, seokmin went through his morning routine calmly, having no rush to arrive at the shop in time. he didn’t even need to show up, but it wasn’t like he had anything to do other than worry about his date.

upon arriving, he’s greeted by johnny - who doesn’t work here, for the record - organizing his leafy greens at their display “good morning seokmin-ah, jaehyun’s in the back, jaemin and jeno are-” “here, we’re here!” seokmin watches the two emerging from behind the counter, faces stuffed with food.

seokmin squints at the two and back to johnny, who has a very familiar cinnamon apple tart in hand. jaehyun chooses the moment to appear through the back door “oh seokmin-ah, good morning, didn’t expect you to be here this early” the man smirks at his boss, teasingly “johnny just came by to spend some time since he’s on his day off todya, hope you don’t mind”

seokmin shakes his head, he loves jaehyun’s husband and his general chaos, so he truly doesn’t care, but before he can respond, jeno lifts a plate from behind the counter with a pile of tarts “mingyu hyung dropped by earlier and left these!”

jaemin - ever the gremlin - continued for jeno “hyung was stress cooking until late yesterday” seokmin heard jeno mutter “but he told us not to tell you that”

he smiles at the coincidence, as he was stressing in the streets, mingyu stressed himself in the kitchen. he grabbed one of the tarts and it tasted amazing as always. then he remebered to tell his employees of his rendervous “jaehyun-ah, there’s some money in that packet, i went street vending yesterday, took your advise to walk around a bit and sold some roses while i was at it”

jaehyun fumbled with the money, counting it and ringing it, seokmin resumed speaking “thanks, by the way, it was really calming, so i guess it worked”

both jaehyun and johnny smiled at him, but then jaehyun started to pester him for staying out so late and overworking himself.

  
  


too many tarts and pestering the half timers later, two men entered the shop and seokmin recognized them right away. the american boy form last night and his date, holding hands. the two of them also recognized seokmin, smiling at him warmly. he got up from his seat “good morning, welcome to lee younghee’s flower shop, how can i help you?”

the one who hadn’t spoken to the florist the night before came up to the counter, smiling “hello, i’m jisoo, nice to meet you, this is junhui, we just wanted to stop by to thank you”

“oh that’s- wow- thanks, i was just doing my job really” seokmin exclaimed, laughing lightly, he ignored jaehyun’s “it’s reeeeally not your job”.

the man, jisoo, nodded and turned to junhui, who had wondered off to look around, chatting with jeno about the orchids the younger was tending to, jisoo looked at seokmin and asked “hey man, what flower means something like “damn you’re beautiful and i’ll remember you forever even if this is your last day in this country and we’ll probably never see each other again?”” by the time he was done talking, he had tears in his eyes and, honestly, seokmin did too. the client cleared his throat “or something of the sort?”

seokmin showed him the stock flowers and told him “they’re like saying the person will forever be beautiful to you, i guess” and he nodded, asking for a bouquet of pink flowers. junhui came to his side and complimented the flowers.

seokmin watched jisoo give the flowers to junhui with trembling hands, watched him tell the meaning behind it stealing quick glances to seokmin just in case he said anything wrong - he wouldn’t try to correct him now-, watched junhui cry a bit, complaining that the world was unfair and that he loved jisoo too much, and watched them make their way out, he even bid them goodbye, without knowing what else to say. 

as soon as they left the shop, he dropped a few tears, turning to jaehyun and johnny, who sat at the work table behind the counter, both crying as well and holding eachother, promising stupid cheesy things to themselves.

seokmin sat in front of them and sighed - he had seen all sorts of sad displays of true love in life, but it comforted him in some way, people like jisoo and junhui might not have gotten a happy ending, but they were happy at one point, and it was still valid, it was still love.

his date with mingyu goes naturally, he wonders why they even worried, they’re comfortable around each other and smiling is easier than breathing. their first date is a movie and dinner. it doesn’t feel like a first date, the only difference from every other day is that they’re not at the flower shop or the café.

their second date is at seokmin’s place, for mingyu to meet seokmin’s plants in his terrace and he shows up in overalls “because gardening, seokmin”.

_ an ivy means fidelity, wedded love, friendship, affection and marriage. _

seokmin laughs himself sick whenever vernon comes by, the younger does everything so mindlessly that the florist can’t help but be endeared. the two of them had been friends since seokmin started coming to the flower shop as a kid, vernon lived at the apartment just above the shop and the two of them would often play together when seokmin’s aunt was busy.

their friendship lasted up until the present days, they kept in contact when vernon moved away for college and when he came back, even if he moved to another apartment building, vernon still came back to the shop weekly, just to chat and pester seokmin about cultivating weed.

seokmin had met vernon’s boyfriend, minghao, a few times before. at first they were extremely clashing, having nothing to do with each other - vernon completely aloof and boyish, seemingly high all the time and minghao mature and stonefaced, always looking sharp and collected - but once the two got comfortable, seokmin could see it, minghao trusting vernon with his most vulnerable side, or the younger making an effort to focus whenever minghao needed him to.

the two matched in their differences, like black and white, or blue and pink.

therefore, it was obvious seokmin couldn’t hide his excitement the day minghao strolled into the shop asking for a bouquet of peonnies.

the chinese boy showed seokmin the ring, expensive and flashy, like minghao, but also intricate and unique, like vernon. seokmin buzzed in excitement as he showed the peonnies to minghao. the both of them gushed a little bit about the proposal and seokmin wished minghao all of the best before he left.

vernon had accepted, obviously, so he was invited to their engagement party. he could bring a plus one. right. he had one now. right?

seokmin called mingyu in a rush - he had the day off today, so he couldn’t just cross the street to ask - tapping around nervously before the call was answered. the two of them had been going in dates for three months now, they have a date tonight, at mingyu’s place, going in dates means you’re dating, right?

“hey, minnie” mingyu picked up after two rings.

“mingyu, there’s uh- we’re dating right?” seokmin asks in a breath.

“i-” seokmin can hear something banging on the other side of the call “ow shit, sorry” some more clattering of things “caught me off guard there, min”

seokmin laughs into the call, endearred “what do you mean?”

“means-” mingyu clears his throat “wait a bit, seokmin, i’ll answer you in like… 20 minutes”

mingyu hangs up and seokmin couldn’t be any more confused.

_ the sunflower  _ _ follows the sun as it grows, it means adoration. _

after about 20 minutes, mingyu strutted throught the door, clearly dishevelled, as if he had ran there. seokmin laughs at his ridiculousness, walking around the counter to kiss him hello. 

the taller held his face as they kissed and told him to wait there. seokmin watched as mingyu made his way to the counter and asked youngjae for a bouquet of sunflowers. the blonde rushed to the back to retrieve it, bringing back about a dozen sunflowers wrapped in a yellow ribbon.

mingyu paid for the bouquet and brought it back to seokmin, offering it like a child -arms extended and eyes bright.

“lee seokmin, i was going to do this tonight, but i guess i’m doing it now because we’re both too anxious for this” they both giggle “your question is really valid, we’ve been to several dates, that means we’re dating, yeah, but i wanted to give us a day, a starting point”

“so now i’m here, after about two years of seeing you from across the street, half a year of trying to befriend you and three months of actually getting to hold your hand and kiss you” mingyu spoke like he’d been counting with his fingers and seokmin felt like his face would rip from smiling too much

“all this time has been worth it just because i can see your smile, because every second i spend close to you is lively and warm”

“minnie you are so full of love, your life is surrounded by love, everything you do is lovely, all the plants you have love you, your teenagers love you, everybody who walks through this door loves you a bit too, even jaehyun’s big scary boyfriend loves you, and i love you too, but it’s a bit more than all of them” 

“i guess we forgot this point of a relationship because we fit together so well, so it seemed like we were together for years, but i want to ask you this and i want to hear it from you”

“will you be my boyfriend, flower boy?”


End file.
